GTA Online: Now Available

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October 1st, the day many GTA V fans have been waiting for, is here. This means GTA Online is kicking off -- but what do you need to know? First off, access to the Online portion of V is free with your copy of GTA V. No additional purchases will be required. You simply log on, download a small Title Update on the PSN or Xbox Live, and connect. Important notes:

Grand Theft Auto Online is set a few months prior to the events of Grand Theft Auto V’s single player story.

If someone invites you into their property, then it is considered a friendly visit and you will not be able to shoot up their place or steal their cars from their garage. By the way, in any given lobby, if you and another player own the same piece of property, you will each be able to enter your own personal instance of that property at any given time. You will also be able to enter each other’s instance of that property if you exchange and accept an invite. This way, multiple instances of ownership of the same property within a lobby can co-exist.

All players still have to rank up with Reputation Points (RP) in order to get access to purchase high-end items with GTA$. No one can begin GTA Online and simply spend a lot of money out of the gate to get a leg up.

Players will soon be helping to add content to the game world yourselves, by creating custom Race and Deathmatch Jobs through the Content Creator tool which we plan to release this fall. Grand Theft Auto Online is a collaborative project between Rockstar and all GTA players worldwide, so expect that we’ll effectively be working on it together from day one.

The hereditary-based character creation system of Grand Theft Auto Online allows for a multitude of options to create your avatar that will then inhabit the online world of Los Santos & Blaine County. Choose your gender then decide on your mother and father. From there, you can choose to give one parent genetic dominance or leave them more evenly matched. The choice is yours. Next, you adjust a set of lifestyle variables which help determine your character’s appearance and starting stats. Decide how much sleep he/she gets, how much partying they indulge in, how much honest work versus illegal activity, and more. Essentially, you can adjust the genetics to wind up with a fresh faced lad or lass or a grizzled, haggard degenerate or anywhere in between! You’ll also be able to preview your end result in real time all throughout to ensure you’re satisfied before putting your character on a direct flight to LS. Of course, once you’re out and about in the open world, you can further customize your character with haircuts, clothing and accessories to suit your tastes.

Social Club members get access to weaponry and vehicular unlocks, a whole new suite of Crew features to represent and coordinate with your squad, and special tools to get the most out of Rockstar Jobs and user-created Jobs when the Content Creator tool launches this fall.

A full explanation of features and details can be found on the Rockstar blog, as always.

Haven't gotten in on the amazing masterpiece that is GTA V yet? The game flaunts a massive world of unprecedented scale and detail set in a re-imagined, present-day Southern California. You'll explore the cityscape and surrounding areas from the tops of the nearby mountains, to the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

Purchase details can be found at http://www.rockstargames.com/V/order, and don't forget that each copy comes packaged with access to Rockstar's new open-world GTA online game, detailed above.